True. I remember the second time I did Gillespie Gulch on our annual night run. I followed Cheeseman up a trough that I had aced the year previous. It had either gotten dug out or I took a poor line because I had my front end wa-a-ay up in the air. Finally I stopped, someone threw a strap on me and I drove out of it. I said, "It wasn't that bad, was it?" And someone responded, "Dude, you were vertical." Karie and the kids were with me that year, too.

I remember that Matt, that was the first year I led the Spooky Night Run. You were straddling that wedge just fine but then stopped, then for whatever reason you rolled back and turned the wheel, putting your back tire at the bottom of the wedgie. Replace "someone" above with me... while a couple guys held your bumper down I tossed a strap down to you, and we yanked your 40 up to the terra firma. That totally freaked me out, as you were pretty vertical- probably not as bad off as Randy was one WipeOut hill but close, I don't remember if the other front tire came off the ground or not though. hey, it was dark... after that Steve Crase taught me the nick name Hazz Matt...

From another angle...Not quite the look on Randy's face in his shot () but Tim seems to be "clenching" them hard in this pic

Still driving with one hand though I see...

When we did Poughkeepsie on the Ouray Run in 2007 I was trying the right hand line (where Cheeseman had an incident a few years back) and got one of my tires off the ground pretty good. Everyone was pretty nervous about that, but it didn't seem that bad to me. But I had used up my three tries so I went up the other side of the rock...probably a good thing. It was only two months after that that I broke my pinion in Moab because I went beyond my three tries...

That was not an IFS issue. That was driver error plain and simple. Had I just stuck to the line...

It's so obvious when I look at the moment just before I tipped, maybe 6" more to the right and I could have rolled the right tire up and down the other side of the rock, which slopes away from the wall. My slider and skid plates take the hit rather than the stuff above the waist line. Or maybe a harder left crank, sooner than what we were doing with the 80s?

I honestly just don't see how a solid axle would have made a difference on my line. I mean my left tire is already spinning in space with the suspension against the bump stop. Even if it dropped 6" more, there practically no weight on it until my truck's center rotates over. The rear axle is twisting the opposite way, so I already have significant resistance to the left side coming over and that didn't help as the front end dropped.

I just have two feet more wheelbase than the trucks that came before, so I had to go straight longer before the left hand crank, which widened my arc and ultimately set me up for a harder rotation. Then since I have 6" less track width, the top of my truck rotated a lot more than the wagons before the left side hit anything solid.

This to me is one of those cases where a highly built truck just masks a very poor line selection. Even assuming I make it through (which I still doubt) with a live axle and leafs, it would have remained a bad line. Keep in mind that I would be running a 58" wide axle with maybe 2" lift springs, stock configuration. I would not get a ton more downtravel, maybe 2~3". My left tire is 15" from hitting anything substantial. IOW, I still would need a whole bunch of rocks stacked, which is probably what we should have done from this point since the 80 series hard left crank technique did not work.

Same as riding a bike with suspension, you can blow through lines that require much more control if you don't have 140mm of front and rear squish.

Well, I get a daily reminder of that mistake and maybe one day I will get around to fixing my 'Nest. :-/

I earned that nickname on my very first run with Rising Sun in Jan. 2001, down on the Hackett Gulch trail. I had three wheels in the air going up one of the first obstacles. That was back when my FJ40 was stock, and so were my driving skills. Shortly thereafter, I bought a 4" lift, new 33" Goodyear MT/Rs, and a locker for the rear. It took me a while longer to develop some skills behind the wheel.

As I noted Dave, just kidding, but I probably shouldn't have been knowing how much the damage suffered grates. I promise to never bring the situation up again.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaveInDenver

That was not an IFS issue. That was driver error plain and simple. Had I just stuck to the line...

It's so obvious when I look at the moment just before I tipped, maybe 6" more to the right and I could have rolled the right tire up and down the other side of the rock, which slopes away from the wall. My slider and skid plates take the hit rather than the stuff above the waist line. Or maybe a harder left crank, sooner than what we were doing with the 80s?

I honestly just don't see how a solid axle would have made a difference on my line. I mean my left tire is already spinning in space with the suspension against the bump stop. Even if it dropped 6" more, there practically no weight on it until my truck's center rotates over. The rear axle is twisting the opposite way, so I already have significant resistance to the left side coming over and that didn't help as the front end dropped.

I just have two feet more wheelbase than the trucks that came before, so I had to go straight longer before the left hand crank, which widened my arc and ultimately set me up for a harder rotation. Then since I have 6" less track width, the top of my truck rotated a lot more than the wagons before the left side hit anything solid.

This to me is one of those cases where a highly built truck just masks a very poor line selection. Even assuming I make it through (which I still doubt) with a live axle and leafs, it would have remained a bad line. Keep in mind that I would be running a 58" wide axle with maybe 2" lift springs, stock configuration. I would not get a ton more downtravel, maybe 2~3". My left tire is 15" from hitting anything substantial. IOW, I still would need a whole bunch of rocks stacked, which is probably what we should have done from this point since the 80 series hard left crank technique did not work.

Same as riding a bike with suspension, you can blow through lines that require much more control if you don't have 140mm of front and rear squish.

Well, I get a daily reminder of that mistake and maybe one day I will get around to fixing my 'Nest. :-/

Having witnessed your skills and abilities up close on the Rubicon, I can say that you have come a very long way since that Hackett Gulch day. I'll never forget the image of Hulk on one wheel trying to determine if he wanted to flop or not. It really was that close to some serious damage and I'm glad it wasn't your unlucky day. I really want to go back there - is it open to wheeling yet?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hulk

I earned that nickname on my very first run with Rising Sun in Jan. 2001, down on the Hackett Gulch trail. I had three wheels in the air going up one of the first obstacles. That was back when my FJ40 was stock, and so were my driving skills. Shortly thereafter, I bought a 4" lift, new 33" Goodyear MT/Rs, and a locker for the rear. It took me a while longer to develop some skills behind the wheel.

Beer helps! Maybe you could use the above pic as your avatar to remind you of having a small bad moment in an otherwise heavenly situation forcing yourself to remember all the good that went on with a little bad? My avatar works in that way and, in fact, we both succumbed to exactly the same steering scenario - the passenger side tire wanted to climb when it really was the last thing in the world we wanted to happen.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaveInDenver

Nah, it's no biggie. Frustrated at work this week and just upset trying my best not to waste another summer getting stuck at work (yes, this weekend looks bad). I've been really unfairly snippy to Kirsten the past couple of days, too.